Wolseley chairman to step down

RICHARD Ireland, the long-serving non-executive chairman of builders and plumbers merchant Wolseley, is to retire after the group's annual general meeting in December. He will be succeeded by 55-year-old deputy chairman John Whybrow.

Ireland, who has been with Wolseley for 44 years, has seen the group grow to become the world's biggest supplier of plumbing and heating equipment with wide-ranging interests in Europe and North America. He was finance director from 1975 to 1994 and became chairman in 1996.

Whybrow was president and executive vice-president of Philips Electronics from 1998 to March 2002 when he returned to Britain.

Non-executive director David Tucker, who has been with the group since 1990, is also to retire. He will be replaced by Jim Murray, 55, a former finance director of Land Securities. Wolseley shares were firm at 715p.